Ealing Council has announced its own £1.4million ‘Pride in Place’ programme to upgrade high streets after the borough was snubbed by the Government.
Council announces £1.4m Pride in Place programme
The council has allocated the cash to “build stronger communities, create thriving places and empower local people”. Unlike neighbouring boroughs such as Hounslow and Brent, Ealing did not receive any direct funding from the Government’s national Pride in Place strategy.
Council documents indicate that the initiative will “specifically focus on enhancing public spaces in high streets and town centres” though exactly which of the borough’s high streets will get upgrades is yet to be determined. Residents will be directly involved in the decision making process on how and where funding will be allocated.
This could involve using local “town teams”. Each town team consists of 10 to 15 volunteer residents who have applied to represent their neighbourhood alongside local businesses, faith groups and councillors.
Residents to help decide where funding goes
Council officers will undertake “place analysis” to examine levels of deprivation and community needs alongside resident surveys to determine which high streets should be prioritised and targeted with the funding. Alongside the analysis, the team working on the programme will discuss other ways in which the community will “be empowered and enabled to co-design and co-deliver the programme”.
By town, Northolt is the most deprived in Ealing. At ward level, Southall Green, represented by Cllr Peter Mason, Leader of the Council, is the most deprived – according to Ealing Council reports.
Mandar Puranik, Head of Regeneration, Investment and Jobs at Ealing Council, will provide an overview of the borough high street and town centres, community-led placemaking delivery plans, and a case study of the community-led programmes underway in Southall.
Southall cited as case study
Council documents cite recent Southall public arts investment as a case study on “how the council has been strengthening and deepening its approach to community-led and place-based work in the borough”. In recent months, residents in Southall have raised concerns about levels of fly-tipping across the town, in addition to the proliferation of public drug use following the council re-location of a drug addiction treatment centre.
Herpreet Nirwal recently told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that “there are people, they will sit on our road and they will openly smoke a crack pipe”.
Ealing Council said that the behaviour is unacceptable, but argued that there is “no evidence that the current issues are being caused by the relocation” of the centre.
The Pride in Place programme is still at an early stage of development, with the council seeking advice of the Economy and Sustainability Scrutiny Panel to refine the strategy. The panel is chaired by Councillor Hitesh Tailor, the Labour councillor for East Acton.
The Economy and Sustainability Scrutiny Panel will meet on Thursday, July 9 at 7pm to discuss the proposals and provide feedback on the approach taken to the delivery of the improvements. The first phase of the programme is expected to launch by April 2027.
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Philip is a Local Democracy Reporter covering Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow, with a focus on council decisions, housing, planning, licensing and community stories across west London.
